Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Hi everyone - this is a little off topic as far as photography is concerned.

I am getting married next year and we just booked our photog (my fiancee's choice of course). I'm just trying to get a little insight into typical payment terms. Naturally We have provided a retainer ($1000) to book the day. For the balance ($3500) I would prefer to have all (or at least some) held off until after the even or after receiving the proofs.

I was hoping to get some feedback from wedding pgotographers on the board to see if that is a common practice at all. I understand that the photographer needs to be protected to ensure that they are paid - but I would like to be protected as well to ensure that I get what I'm paying for.

Any feedback on this is greatly appreciated. It's a lot of money - but I need to keep the lady happy (if I don't pay now, I will definitely pay later).

Cheers,

Michael

Hey Michael, first off --- CONGRATULATIONS! I walked down the same path nearly a year ago.... my anniversary is coming up on October 4th. Anyhow, we broke up the payments with our photographer and paid her over several months so that it was affordable to us. I believe we paid $500 per month in the time between booking her and the wedding, and we were totally paid off within a month of the ceremony, that way it took the stress off of us. We had other things to pay for leading up to the ceremony, so it was good to get her $3500 fee over and done with. If it works for you, I would definately suggest seeing if your photographer is willing to work with a similar payment schedule.


David

Thaks for the note David - and our dates will be quite close once all is said and done (I'm going down on October 2nd, 2010)....congrats on year 1!

I'm sure that my guy would have no issue receiving the money in installments over the next 10 months or so...but I am thinking it would be nice to have a portiion held in lieu of having the shooting completed. Perhaps even just a post-dated checque for a portion...something to give me a little comfort and protection. I have heard many horror stories about photographers and I'd hate to live through one of my own.

Any thoughts?

Thanks again,

Michael

I'm a full-time wedding photographer, so I'll try to give you some insight into why certain things are done the way they are. Keep in mind that there are no laws or association or oversight body that governs the wedding industry. That pretty much means anyone can purport to be a "wedding photographer", and they can charge whatever they want, however they want. Let the market decide!

There are varying viewpoints on the subject of payment schedule, not just between photographer and client, but amongst photographers themselves. Paying a booking fee first and then the balance on or before the day of the wedding is a common policy. I have no idea if the majority of photogs in Toronto do this, but that is my standard policy, as it is with a large number of my colleagues.

I could probably come up with a list of a dozen reasons why photographers have such policies, and then a dozen reasons why clients prefer something different. That would take too long to type out all at once , so I'll try to address a couple of points first, and then let the discussion develop from there.

Most of the arguments boil down to striking a balance between the often opposing (but equal) needs of the vendor vs the client. My policy is a booking fee to hold the date, with the balance due 30 days before the wedding. I used to collect the balance on the day of the wedding, but I felt that dealing with money matters then was a bit tacky, and would sometimes not even happen. The 30 days allows sufficient time for the funds to clear, since most of my clients pay by cheque. I have not been burned yet, but I do know of many photographers who only instituted this policy after being bitten by a late NSF cheque.

Having said that, I do bend the rules depending on the situation. If the couple adds on extra stuff to the package (parent albums, canvas prints, additional days, etc.), then I don't have a problem adding another payment 30 days after the wedding, when they come in to view the proofs and album layouts. I will structure things so that whatever payments I receive before the wedding will at least cover the photography and associated post-processing. Let's say the total package comes out to $6000, including a couple extra albums for the parents. I would be fine with collecting the $1000 booking fee, then $3000 30 days before the wedding, and finally $2780 (including tax) 30 days after the wedding.

I do this to protect myself and my business. Worst case, the couple breaks up the day after the wedding and disappear. I don't hear about this until after I've processed all the photos and designed the album. I need to be paid not only for that work, but for my services on the day of the wedding. I figure $4000 will cover that. So even if the couple does skip town and never come to collect their photos, I'm covered. Yes, this sort of thing does happen!

But on the other hand, the happily-engaged couple want some assurances that the photographer won't pack up and leave town either. That happens too, unfortunately! But here is the big difference: it is much easier for a client to get references for a photographer, than the other way around. You can go on their web site and/or blog and see evidence of many happy past clients. You can even ask the photographer if those past clients can contact you as a reference. The photographer, OTOH, has no such resource to help determine the viability of the two people who just walked in the door for the meeting. It's not like people have a personal web page that says "look at all these happy vendors with whom I've done business in the past!". Real life is not like eBay, sadly.

So from a photographer's viewpoint, I feel I am assuming a greater risk in taken on an unknown client, than the client is when deciding to work with me. It sounds a bit harsh, but I don't know most of my sales leads from a hole in the wall. But with things like Facebook fan pages, online portfolios, customer testimonials, etc., clients will have a much better idea of who I am.

It's one argument for going with a professional photographer who has a proper business presence, rather than someone who just does this on the side. If a client insisted, I could show them my incorporation papers, my Ontario vendor permit, my GST license number, my business insurance policy, etc., etc. The client has many avenues of recourse should the business relationship go sour. The photographer has very little. As a consumer, one has more rights than a vendor. One of the ways to balance this out is with the payment schedule that does favour the vendor over the client.

Congratulations! I totally know what you're going through...

i booked mine about 1 month ago for June next year, and they wanted a deposit, then 50% of the balance 30 days prior, then the remaining 50% once we're satisfied with all the products after.

I think they are the only ones in the biz that do that.

Most wedding photographers, like Taob, are very flexible as to their payment schedule.

There is also an element of personal experience that will bias our decisions. I've been lucky, in that no client has ever burned me on payment. However, other photographers have had situations where they left the final payment until the proof viewing, and then never had the couple show up! You would think that if you paid for, say, 75% of your wedding photography package, you would at least want to come over to see them! But apparently not. Once bitten, twice shy.

Another example is with the deposit or retainer or booking fee or whatever you want to call it. $500 or $1000 or more is quite common. There is usually also a clause that says such fees are not refundable. Why? Because the photographer is now exclusively dedicated to your wedding day, and will now be turning down other potential business. If the couple then decide to cancel the photography services, the photographer is now left without a paying job that day.

Some photographers say "no refunds no matter what". Others say "partial refund if I re-book another wedding of equal or higher value". Still others say "full refund only in case of death or military deployment". Some photographers roll over and refund the whole thing, which makes me wonder why they even have it in their contract in the first place.

The same philosophy applies if the wedding date changes. I levy a $250 fee for every date change. Why? Because you've blocked off a date that I potentially could have taken on more business, and I need to be compensated for that. I've only had that happen a couple times, but one photographer I spoke to had a bridezilla change dates on him five times. He did not have a change fee in his policy, but you can be damn sure he did for the next wedding.